Pasternak’s surveillance-airship business is worth millions, but wealth was never his goal. “It’s all about the cargo airship,” he said. His cargo prototype, the Dragon Dream, was in Hangar 2, on the other side of the base. Two hundred and sixty-six feet long—nearly the length of a football field—and ninety-six feet wide, the Dragon Dream was the largest rigid airship built in the U.S. since the nineteen-thirties. And yet it was just half the size of Pasternak’s proposed masterpiece, the Aeroscraft. The Aeroscraft will come in three sizes. The ML866 will be five hundred and fifty-five feet long and able to carry sixty-six tons of cargo. The ML868 will be about thirty per cent larger, with a capacity of two hundred and fifty tons. And the ML86X will be nine hundred and twenty feet (nearly three football fields) long, two hundred and fifteen feet (more than the Tower of Pisa) high, three hundred and fifty-five feet (two Boeing 747s) wide, and able to carry five hundred tons.

To get an idea of the scale of the ML86X, imagine a flying, elongated Houston Astrodome hauling a hundred and fifty elephants.

The company is beginning production of two examples, an ML866 and an ML868 model.

The Aeroscraft’s VTOL capability is like a submarine. For example, when a submarine needs to dive into the water, it takes on water to make it heavier. When the submarine needs to surface, it releases that water to become lighter. Similarly, the Aeroscraft can control its weight by releasing and taking on air, controlling the heaviness or lightness of the vehicle.

2013 – The Dragon Dream had its first float on January 3. The Pentagon declared the tests were a success. On July 4, the Dragon Dream rolled out of the hangar for the first time and on September 11, the first flight of the Dragon Dream occurred.
2014 – Aeros launches 40D ‘Sky Dragon’ S/N 22 into service following Congressional Christening ceremony; completes ‘design freeze’ for ML 866 (66-ton) Aeroscraft, initiates production of new 40E ‘Sky Dragon’ airship; develops and deploys a new tactical aerostat design; advances the company’s IP position for the Aeroscraft.
2015 – Aeros receives Patent from USPTO for revolutionary COSH buoyancy management system; launches the North American Defense Advanced Technology Solutions (NADATS) division, readies launch of advanced 40E ‘Sky Dragon’ airship, and continues production on the world’s first cargo airship, the Aeroscraf

Dream Dragon half size prototype

Lockheed Martin LMH-1

Lockheed’s uses helium for only about eighty per cent of its lift; the rest comes from the aerodynamic form of the body. Its weight is intended to make it easier to control on the ground. The first version has a payload of 20 tons.

The LMH-1 should become certified by the Federal Aviation Administration by the end of 2017, paving the way for delivery in 2018.

The Airlander 10 incorporates lighter-than-air technology to create what the company calls “a new breed of hyper-efficient aircraft.” The aircraft will get 60 percent of its lift from internal helium gas and 40 percent from its aerodynamic
form. A critical component of the success of the aircraft is the boost it gets from advanced composite materials. “The Airlander hull is made of a flexible laminate utilizing Vectran as the structural fiber,” says Ashley Appleton head of rigid structures at HAV. “The laminate contains specific features to protect the material from the environment and to retain helium.”

The skin of Airlander 10’s hull is a combination of five tons of multilayered Vectran weave, Tedlar and Mylar surrounding a helium bubble.

Vectran, which consists of a high-performance multifilament yarn spun from liquid crystal polymer, is five times stronger
than steel and 10 times stronger than aluminum. Tedlar is a polyvinyl fluoride film that provides an outer coat and protects the hull from wearing away. Mylar, a form of polyester resin used to make heat-resistant plastic films, creates a gas barrier to minimize helium loss.

The hull is not the only structure on the revitalized aircraft to rely on composites. The engine frames also were made from an undisclosed carbon fiber prepreg. Underneath the Airlander 10 is a 149-foot-long structure made with CFRP and GFRP materials.

The Airlander 10 will eventually have a “big brother,” the Airlander 50, designed for remote access and logistics in markets such as mining, oil and gas and humanitarian relief. Allman says that composite knowledge and expertise gained on the Airlander 10 will be utilized for the Airlander 50

Hybrid aircraft technology is claimed to allow a wider range of flight-performance optimizations ranging from significantly heavier than air to near buoyant. This perception of uncommon dynamic flight range when coupled with an appropriate landing system is claimed to allow ultra heavy and affordable airlift transportation.